Xi Jinping, Joe Biden to speak ‘relatively soon’ amid Taiwan, Ukraine and Middle East tensions

Name: China’s Wang Yi calls for ‘in-depth’ Sino-US dialogue ahead of Antony Blinken talks in Washington
Uploaded: 2024-02-01T13:55:05.000Z
Duration: 2 min 17 s
Description: China’s Wang Yi calls for ‘in-depth’ Sino-US dialogue ahead of Antony Blinken talks in Washington

After meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan confirms two leaders will speak by phone ‘sooner rather than later’

There ‘is no substitute for leader-to-leader conversation’, Sullivan says

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Beijing has not confirmed a potential call between Xi Jinping and Joe Biden, but Xinhua reported that aides agreed that the two leaders “will maintain regular contact” to provide strategic guidance to bilateral relations. Photo: AFP

Zhao Ziwen

Published: 9:55pm, 1 Feb 2024Updated: 1:17pm, 2 Feb 2024

Presidents Xi Jinping and Joe Biden will talk by phone “relatively soon”, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said on Tuesday in Washington after returning from Bangkok, where he held talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

“We agreed that President Biden and President Xi should speak and should speak by telephone relatively soon. And I think the acknowledgement … is that there really is no substitute for leader-to-leader conversation.” Sullivan said, according to a statement from the White House.

“And so, both of us agreed that we would report back to our leaders and we would get them on the phone sooner rather than later.”

Beijing has not confirmed that a call will take place, but a readout from Xinhua said that after their nine-hour talks in Bangkok, Wang and Sullivan agreed that the two leaders “will maintain regular contact”.

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China’s Wang Yi calls for ‘in-depth’ Sino-US dialogue ahead of Antony Blinken talks in Washington

Beijing and Washington have maintained frequent exchanges since Xi and Biden met in California in November, where Xi called for the two countries to “have more communications, more dialogues, and more consultations”.